Out of body experience
by Monday the 14th
Summary: James finds himself in the hospital staring at...himself? Now, this can't be good. Oneshot


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Faint _pops_ were heard in the small clearing, as some witches and wizards arrived there. They quietly regrouped and headed towards an abandoned-looking house a couple of meters away.

They were all Aurors working for the Ministry of Magic. Recently, intelligence arrived that a Death Eater meeting was to take place in the house they were headed to.

The man in front raised his fist and pointed at the house, making a small circle with his finger, causing the others to scatter and surround the building. The same man, closely followed by a second, made his way to the front door. His name was Alastor Moody, and he was head of the Auror department.

But just as Moody was preparing to give the command to enter the house, a spell was shot by someone outside of visual range and hit one of the Aurors near Alastor.

'It's an ambush!' another one shouted, and all the Ministry officials entered the abandoned house, desperately seeking shelter against the attackers.

Once inside, Moody said: 'All right, now we officially have a new mission: don't get killed. And if you do, try and get as many Death Eaters with you as you can, understand?'

'Or what?' James Potter asked him.

'I'll send a letter to dear God, asking him to give you back, so I can torture you with paper-work. I can be convincing, you know!'

'Ouch!'

'Now, try and defend this ruin as best as you can, it's the only shelter we've got.'

But before anybody could make it to the entrance, or the windows, Death Eaters slipped inside shooting hexes left, right, and centre. Each Auror was now engaged in battle, but it became quite obvious that they were outnumbered. After ten minutes of dueling, reinforcements came and they fought alongside with their colleagues.

There was no room for mistake, and after Death Eaters and Aurors fell, the fight finally became one-on-one.

James Potter was engaged in battle with Lucius Malfoy, or so he suspected. Constantly defending himself, James eventually managed to stun his adversary, just as he sent a non-verbal hex towards him.

The force of the blast forced James into the wall behind him with such force that it crashed down on him.

And then he knew no more.

_James found himself standing in a line of other people. The lady in front of him had a nasty cut on the side of her head, and she looked slightly crestfallen. The man behind him was so old, James was surprised he could even stand._

_Then, he realized that he held a ticket in his hand. It was golden, with just his name written on it._

_The line advanced very quickly,, and before he could register anything, he was in front of an old man that wore white and beige robes._

'_Hello, son! Ticket, please.'_

_James handed him the ticket in utter bewilderment. _What _was going on!?_

'_Oooooh,' the man said checking a huge register in front of him, 'You must go back.'_

'_Back? Go back where?' asked the Auror._

_But his question went unanswered, the man simply waving his hand, surrounding James in a pool of blinding light._

All of a sudden, he was in the middle of a corridor in…St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

Nobody seemed to notice him, and that was rather disturbing seeing as he'd just left the road to Heaven…literally.

Before he could think about anything properly, he saw someone that caused him to jump and head towards her. It was Lily, his wife for five years now.

But she looked…different…tired. Her dark red hair was behind her back in a messy bun, and her lime-green Healer robes were all crumpled. Her eyes wore the unmistakable signs of sleepless nights and crying.

'Lily?' James asked. She showed no sign of recognition, and instead, walked right _through _him.

'Merlin's beard, what's going on?'

Deciding not to stay in the middle of the hall, he followed his wife. Just as she was about to enter one of the wards, someone called out for her.

'Lily! Hey, Lily!'

Seconds later, Sirius Black came into sight. 'Hi! Anything…?'

She just shook her head, looking defeated. 'No, nothing.'

'Come here,' his best friend said, and pulled Lily into a hug.

James was more confused by the second. _What _was going on, and _why _couldn't anybody see him? The answer came soon enough, and it was quite a shock.

After she pulled away from Sirius, Lily finally opened the door to the ward and entered, her friend right behind her. There was only one bed in the middle of the room, and it was occupied by…James!

'This can't be real!' James thought as he stared down at himself. 'How did I get over here?'

All of a sudden, it clicked. He had almost died when Malfoy sent him into that wall, but the man in white robes had sent him back…what good was it, though, if he was like this instead of in his own body?

'Sirius…' Lily spoke from James's side. 'The others think we should let him go.'

'What?'

This time, the woman had more trouble speaking, as tears flooded her eyes.

'The other healers…they say that James is being kept alive only by magical means. And the worst part is…they're right!' She was openly crying now. 'Oh my God, Sirius…James is…'

'No!' James and Sirius said at the same time.

'Don't say that!' Sirius continued. 'He'll pull through. Prongs is tough, he has to come out of this one!'

Lily smiled at him. 'I was hoping you'd say that…and I hope we don't have to fight in order to convince the others, but if the time comes…'

'It won't. Don't worry. James will be up and about in no time, you'll see!'

'Thank you, Padfoot,' James whispered, then glanced at the calendar on the wall. It was the 30th of November, and that meant he had been in this state for two weeks already.

The next couple of day passed in a blur. James didn't want to leave the hospital where his body was, and so he roamed the place, sometimes following Lily or another healer.

After a short while, he saw someone die. It was a fifteen year old girl, whose house had been raided by Death Eaters. Nobody had survived.

As soon as the healers declared her dead, her spirit rose from her body. She was the first one who could see James.

But she couldn't stay…after a couple of moments she was lifted into the air and James suspected she now had a golden note with only her name written on it…

After Karla, he realized he could somehow sense the life all around him…and the next time he got near Lily, he realized something. She was pregnant! Inside her body, a small child was now developing…just one month old, but old enough for James to feel its presence.

The thought of being a father made him happy and hurt at the same time- what could he do for his child if he had to remain in a state like this?

From the time that he had made the discovery onward, he never let Lily out of his sight. By watching her, he learned many things, and he was not happy with what he discovered. She barely took time off to sleep, and when she did it was only for a couple of hours—never more. She was wearing herself out quickly, and it couldn't have been any good for her or the baby.

Apparently he wasn't the only one thinking that way.

Dorcas Meadows had always been a good friend of Lily's. From the first day they had met on the Hogwarts Express, they had become practically inseparable.

So it wasn't a surprise when she came to St. Mungo's just to visit her friend and have lunch with her.

'So, how have you been? We haven't seen each other in ages.' Dorcas asked as soon as they were seated.

Lily shrugged. 'You know, keeping busy.'

Her friend's eyes narrowed. 'How many hours have you been here?'

The woman gave her a look 'You already know the answer to that. And you also know that I can't leave until …'

'Yes, you can Lily. Knowing James like I do, I'm sure he would want you to go home and get some rest. So, here's what we're going to do: you are going to change from your Healer's robes, and I'll take you home. There, you will _rest_ properly, and then you can come back.'

'I can't go now, Dorcas.'

'Why not?' she asked with an exasperated voice.

'Because I'm waiting for some test results.' Lily answered.

'Surely another Healer can…'

'No, they can't. They're my test results. I think I'm pregnant.'

Dorcas spilt the water she was drinking. 'What?'

Lily smiled 'I'm going to be a mother…I think.'

But her friend's face was now furious. 'And you think you'll do that baby any good by killing yourself with work? If you weren't my best friend I would …I…gah! You are so infuriating! And stop smiling like that!'

Indeed, Lily was shining with such joy that all traces of weariness were erased from her face. Her happiness was slightly shadowed by the thought that her husband might never find out about the good news.

Little did she know that he was right beside her.

The next day, Lily went home for the first time in three weeks to get some well-deserved rest.

James, however, remained at the hospital in the hope that he might find a way to get back to his body. Because of his decision, he found out that a lot of people were paying him small visits.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter came almost every day. Alastor Moody came once and threatened him that he would be sacked if he didn't wake up. Some of his colleagues, including Frank and Alice Longbottom, also stopped by.

It was the Healer's visits that made him feel uncomfortable. According to them, his brain wasn't working anymore…he was practically dead, and no matter how loud James would scream 'I'm right here!', they could never hear.

His nerves were soothed slightly once Lily came back, but the way she was crying when she was alone made him feel anxious all over again.

The day finally came when a meeting of the hospital's best healers made decisions about patients. James was the last one to be discussed.

'I'm afraid that we can no longer sustain Mr. Potter in this state,' a woman with short brown hair and bags under her eyes said.

'Why?' asked Lily 'It has only been one month. He could still wake up.'

The other healer looked at her with sadness. 'My dear, I am afraid you are too emotionally involved into this matter. His state is something that Muggles would call brain-dead. It …'

'I know what it means, McKinnon' said Lily, suddenly aggressive, 'but I'll say it again: it has only been one month.'

'And what would you rather do, Lily?' another healer spoke 'keep him alive for the next twenty or more years, in the hope that he may come back?'

'No, but-'

'We don't have the resources to do that. Anyone who agrees on letting James go, raise your hand.'

Every person in the room, except Lily, raised their hands. The man looked at her.

'I'm sorry. It will be done tomorrow morning.'

James wandered through the hospital's corridors that night, not taking in anything around him in. He had left a sobbing Lily in the ward where his body lay and walked…just walked.

Had he been solid, he would have crashed into people, but instead, he walked right through them.

The next morning came…eight o'clock…nine o' clock…nine thirty…and finally ten, which found Lily, Marlene McKinnon and the other healer in James' ward.

Lily's eyes were red from crying; the other two looked sad.

'We have no choice, you know.' the man finally said.

'Oh, yeah?' James asked sarcastically from a corner. Lily chose not to say a word.

The man took out his wand, and Lily just grabbed one of the chairs in the room. Marlene went towards her, and held her arm as the Healer waved his wand around James.

_Everything around him darkened, as he stood in front of the same old man with white robes._

'_You again?' he asked 'What did you do this time?'_

'_I didn't do anything! You didn't send me back properly!'_

'_Seriously now, son' the other asked with a sigh. 'Do you honestly believe I can take care of everything? I am not God, you know. You had to get back into your body by yourself.'_

_James just stared at him. It was, by far, the stupidest thing he had ever heard._

_The man looked at him with an amused face. 'You're lucky someone out there likes you,' he said, and lifted his hand. There was another flash of light _and he was lookingat the ceiling of the ward he was in. He heard someone sob at the other end of the room.

'There, there, darling. There was nothing you could have done.'

James coughed. He just realized how difficult it was to breathe. Out of nowhere, Lily appeared, looking dumbfounded at him.

Two days later, he was released from the hospital. Everyone was just as surprised as his wife when they realized how he came back from his coma. Moody gave him three weeks to 'get back on your feet-don't argue with me!'

But before he went home, James made a quick detour in Bancyfelin, a small village in Caramrthenshire. It was in that village's cemetery that Karla Gerlad's grave lay. There, James lay white roses…unfortunately not everyone was as lucky as he was.

_AN: The village Bancyfelin really does exist. _


End file.
